The Albert Lea wrestling team placed first on Saturday after crowning five individual champions in the Maple River Invitational.

Trevor Westerlund at 106 pounds, Garrett Wangsness (113), Dakota Wangsness (120), Lucas Hansen (132) and Devin Nelson (138) all placed first for the Tigers, who beat second-place Champlin Park by 58 1/2 points in the eight-team tournament.

“It was a good tournament for us,” Tigers coach Larry Goodnature said. “We’re a pretty good individual tournament team because we’ve got kids that score bonus points. That’s what we really excel in.”

Westerlund pinned seventh-grader Ryan Wacker, of New Ulm, in the semifinals in just seven seconds before beating Russell Caldwell, of Maple River, 12-5 in the finals.

Garrett Wangsness beat three-time tournament champion Zack Kuhns, of Maple River, in the finals 8-5, and Dakota edged returning champion, Bryon Forstner, of Madelia-Truman, 5-4 to place first.

Hansen pinned Parker Hale, of Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland in the semis and beat Mapler Rivers’ Aaron Trio 2-1 in the finals.

Nelson notched a fall in the semis and finals, beating Medford senior Dane Elwood and the No. 1 seed, Cody Heitman, of Zumbrota-Mazeppa, respectively.

Albert Lea assistant coach Jon Hansen said it was nice to see the wrestlers bounce back after winter break.

“It wasn’t a barn burner like we’re used to, but it was nice to see them come out with the same Albert Lea wrestling attitude by going after falls and getting bonus points.”

Albert Lea’s Triston Westerlund placed second after falling to Luke Schmit, of New Ulm, 5-4 in the 160-pound finals, and Tayler Blake was runner-up after losing 7-2 to No. 1 seed Moses Sando, of Champlin Park.

The Tigers also had five wrestlers finish in third place including 126-pounder Tylor Nelson, Spencer Carstens (145), Dustin Samudio (170), Jace Talamantes (22) and Bryce Deboer (285).

Nelson pinned Maple River’s Zak Walters for third, and Carstens pinned Tyler Poncelet, of Zumbrota-Mazeppa.

Samudio lost 6-4 in the semifinals to the eventual champion but beat the tournament’s No. 1 and 2 seeds en route to third.

Talamantes downed senior Richard Bain, of GMLOK, 13-11 in the third-place match, and Doboer notched back-to-back pins to end the day after being pinned in the semis.

Albert Lea’s Derek Sipple placed fourth, and Bany Chan exited the tournament in the wrestlebacks due to a minor knee injury.

The Tigers wrestle again at 7 p.m. Thursday at Mankato West in its continued run at a Big Nine Conference title.